Program for February 10, 2013Madison Central High School Auditorium

Among the Clouds (2004), Brian Balmages (1975) According to the composer, this selection represents the experience of those “lucid dreamers” (those who are aware they are in a dream) who dream of flying. Marches des Parachutistes Belges (1946), Pierre Leemans (1897–1980) arr. (1975) Charles A. Wiley During World War II, Pierre Leemans, a Belgian composer of orchestral, choral, and film music, had dinner with a group of Belgian paratroopers, after which he wrote this march and dedicated it to them. It is a “patrol” which creates the aural semblance of starting in the distance, approaching, passing, and receding into the distance. Chorale and Shaker Dance (1972), John P. Zdechlik (1937) Minnesotan John Zdechlik took two melodies—one of his own creation and the Shaker tune Simple Gifts—and he created numerous variations of both, alone and in combination. Using several meters, tempos, and the musical techniques of diminution and augmentation, he has crafted an enjoyable, creative treatment of the source material.The Purple Carnival (1933), Harry L. Alford (ca. 1879–1939) ed. (1969) Frank Erickson Harry Alford was a very determined individual: his definition of failure was “a person who quit trying.” He ran a custom music arranging company in Chicago between 1903 and 1940. The Purple Carnival was written for and dedicated to the Northwestern University Band, Glenn Cliffe Bainum, conductor.Belle of the Ball (1951), Leroy Anderson (1908–1975) Known as an “American composer of light concert music,” Cambridge native Leroy Anderson received all his education in or near his hometown, including the New England Conservatory of Music and Harvard. Arrangements he did for the Harvard University Band were noticed by Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops, and thus started a collaboration that brought Anderson to prominence. Violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov summarized Anderson’s work succinctly: “The craftsmanship, the humor, the humanity!” Author Howard Pollack wrote that Anderson’s music contains an “American quality that perhaps could be compared with a popular illustrator like Norman Rockwell, but at the same time an ironic urbanity that seemed closer to a sophisticated cartoonist like James Thurber.” For Belle of the Ball, Anderson set out to create a fast waltz in the Viennese tradition, yet the melody has been compared to those of Tchaikovsky.